SENTAKU SURU
by 01Trycia-chan01
Summary: Midnight turns into dawn. Melancholy transitions into exuberance, but only through him. Konoha is throwing a massive party, celebrating the end of the war and the successful reconstruction of the village... and Sakura just doesn't care, until Naruto provokes another great change. ONESHOT M
1. Chapter 1

SENTAKU SURU

**GO TO CHAPTER TWO! THE ONESHOT HAS BEEN REVISED! **

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**LOL it was fun mashing my fingers against the keyboard like that hahahahah**


	2. FEEL

SENTAKU SURU

|1|

-X-

OKAY GUYS I rewrote this because at 2 am when I finished it I thought it was great and I figured that I could do so much better when I went back to reread it. I apologize for being a total dick, and here is the rewritten version. I'll put an asterisk in the text to let you guys know where exactly I changed it, and what point to start reading from.

Dear sweet Jesus I apologize for my shoddy first draft. I invite you again, dear readers, to give this another chance.

Also **a lot of you wanted a sequel :] **rest assured you will get it. I have plans for that that I think you guys will love simply because I'm living a double life; swimming between SS Sasusaku and SS Narusaku. Shhhhhh I'd appreciate it if you guys didn't tell each other ;)

**ALSO: **Special thanks to **SEELE01! **You gave me a lot of feedback and motivated me to fix this faster than I would have if I didn't have your input!

**WARNING: THIS IS REALLY **_**REALLY **_**MATURE CONTENT! It also starts off dismal, but don't get discouraged, it ends up happy.**

-X-

The day of celebrations had finally come. Most places were healed and rebuilt from the war; if not, they were commemorated to the dead and lost. Konoha's celebration took place in a decently-sized wedding hall, transformed into something every shinobi was well familiar with: a bar. There weren't as many of their ranks as Sakura had expected; however that was a melancholy and expected outcome. Most were dead; had died just shy of 11 months ago. Other were traumatized; some in Konoha's newly formed Mental Rehabilitation Center— Ino's idea.

Music boomed in the background and lights flashed; all the result of very complicated seal-work partial only to their collective kage. Killer B. had just rapped a rather decent song on the large stage at the end of the hall and the next band was currently entertaining with all guitars and drums; a fast paced song most bobbed their heads to; a release of their worries, anxieties, and hardships.

Smoke filtered around the room; no one paid it any mind; not even Sakura, a medic who should have abhorred such an act inside a closed space. Her only relief in that aspect was the open windows on the white walls surrounding them. She ignored the couple—or not couple, whatever they were— blatantly fucking in the chair at the table she was sitting on. Things had gotten hectic. Every shinobi had their vice and some liked it in public, uncaring of who saw what. So long as they were mostly clothed, which they were, Sakura didn't care as she sipped on her drink. There were many tables occupied. Most shinobi didn't know how to dance, except maybe the few hundred anbu currently giving themselves brain damage on the dance floor.

Sakura rose out of her seat, not yet drunk; not even reaching that threshold where she'd start pounding down drinks one after the other because their taste lost their importance to her. However, she did pleasurably sway the _tiniest_ bit to her left as her legs stretched to bring her to her full, but pitiful five feet and one inch of height.

Sakura thought alcohol would be a good escape, like it was to her shisho, currently getting _very_ drunk with her former sensei somewhere in some private VIP room that not even anbu were allowed into. Sakura knew Tsunade had lured him in under the guise of arranging the next shift in leadership, but all of team seven, even Sasuke knew _exactly _what was going to happen. Their sensei wasn't daft, either. He knew very well of her shisho's motives and did nothing to wiggle out of them; his complacency and acquiescence had shocked them all.

Sakura thought that maybe alcohol wasn't strong enough to chase away the numbness she felt after the war. Sasuke and Naruto had both tried in their own ways to talk her out of it. As soon as Ichiraku was rebuilt, team seven—all five of them— had met up at the restaurant for the ramen that Naruto forced onto them, and the nostalgia that the others ached to experience. Sasuke had used one sentence that day; _one_ and it was a curt command to _stop being numb_.

She could have snorted, and she did at the memory while staring at her empty glass. He could command her all he wanted; nothing would change the nightmares of Uchiha Madara possibly winning that war. Nothing could stop the emptiness she felt at his utterly embarrassing rejection that _no one_ had yet to mention; that even she herself did not want to mention. She couldn't deal with everything. She broke down from everything after it was all over; they all did in some way…except she did it quietly… was still doing it and couldn't stop like some addict on a downwards spiral.

That was why she was here, at this party; by herself while her friends mingled elsewhere she couldn't care less for, drinking her numbness away. Maybe the alcohol would make her happy like the many times it did when she shared it with her shisho, but again, she was beginning to think that she needed something else to escape; something dangerous that could devour the void in her chest; a fearsome beast with a bigger bite than mere sake. She finally reached the bar; the man tending it was quite handsome, all dark hair and eyes, hard physique and sharp angles any woman would fall prey to.

Sakura didn't care.

"Give me whatever you have left to mix. Make it dangerous." She ordered, but with no real feeling behind the command. His brown eyes _so briefly_ flicked towards her chest where her ample cleavage would have been had she been Tsunade. _Amateur_. His eyes flicked back up to hers, as if punished by her thoughts before she could even muster up the energy to glare.

"We're still fully in stock, surprisingly. Do you have any preferences?" He asked charmingly, with a deep, smooth voice that certainly befitted an adult…a _man_. Still, she shrugged.

"Whatever."

He frowned, upset that he couldn't charm a war hero, and nodded. As he worked, Sakura's jade eyes scanned the party, observing and cataloguing the voracious soldiers of her nation as they sipped from the cup of corruption and debauchery, hidden or blatant in their ministrations. Among beasts and harlots she had no place; she was neither, yet she wasn't at peace.

She spotted Sasuke with his hand up a kunoichi's blouse, their mouths pressed together and moving perversely, his hand fisting in her hair, her nails digging into his shoulder almost through his crisp, navy shirt… and she couldn't find the energy to be angry.

She simply didn't care.

Turning her eyes, she spotted Anko, blatantly in someone's lap and Sakura would have won a bet if there was one regarding the shinobi's penis being within her. One by one her eyes spotted her classmates, some drinking, others laughing. She was glad that most of them weren't being disgusting. Kiba joked with Karin and Naruto, as he protectively stuck to Hinata, the Hyuuga girl blushing madly and urgently trying to look in some direction absent of human filth. They stood in a circle, most of them with beer in their hands; ever the unadultered seraph, Hinata seemed to uncomfortably float amongst the human putrescence without any liquor to numb the taste of foggy reprobation.

Speaking of liquor… she peered down at her own. She didn't know when the bartender had placed it in front of her. Perhaps she spaced out; perhaps he was purposefully silent to show off his stealth, but again, it mattered less to her than the refuse beneath her heels. She picked up her drink, and searched for a table where she could be alone; at peace with her failing vice. She passed Sasuke; nothing more, nothing less, on her way to a small corner of the hall. She could have sworn she felt his gaze, but smirked foolishly at herself. Old habits die hard, and she was thankful that she _just didn't care enough _to look back and check.

She began to sip tenderly on the poison fizzing in her glass; caressing its evil so gently with her lips. There was a satisfying amount of it and it was nearly black in color…a perfect toxicant for her barren emotions. She wondered if it would put her in enough of a stupor to sleep peacefully tonight, but she doubted it. Regardless, as it sensuously slinked its way down her throat and into her body it tasted wonderful, like grapes and plums and she dully noted that all evil things appeared beautiful at first. Konoha had appeared peaceful and beautiful, but its underbelly was pitch black with tar made of blood and mangled bodies, secrets stolen and whispered. Sasuke appeared beautiful and even honorable, until he turned into the man who crushed her throat beneath his palm, and cruelly tortured her mind with heartless genjutsu. She briefly wondered if her ugliness oppositely indicated her kindness and honorability.

On her way to her peaceful place— if one existed in this mishmash of sex and lack of inhibition— she decided to visit the bathroom. Upon entering the poorly lit, blue and white room full of stalls one next to the other, she heard moans and metal doors protesting against actions that shouldn't be taken in a public bathroom, but were. She could tell the girls were enjoying themselves amongst their blissful moans and feminine cries of each other's names. Sakura did her business, despite the small ache blooming at the seam of thighs.

She had pleasured herself before, was not unaware of the bliss and gratification of sexual release. She snorted at her own virginity; she should have taken the opportunities she had with foreign boys and merchants visiting the village when she was younger. Looking back, she didn't know what they saw in her anyway. Perhaps it was the exotic hair color.

She should have taken up Genma's offer when he flirted with her at the newly rebuilt hospital. So many beautiful male torsos, many of their owners willing and ready to show her an entirely different side of sex, yet she stubbornly lived in her fantasy world where she assumed she would get the sunny ending she had concocted for herself her entire life. She should have taken those opportunities long ago, as Sasuke must have, rather than waiting for that "magical moment" where she would "romantically lose her virginity to someone she loved". What a fool she had been; still is.

She should have taken those opportunities _before_ this numbness…_before_ the war, like Ino had with Shikamaru, _before_ he tied himself down to Temari. She laughed miserably at herself on her way out of the disgraceful restroom, throwing her head back in psychotic behavior before a pair of hands stilled themselves on her shoulder. She was thankful she had drunk her drink down enough that it didn't spill as she slammed the owner of those hands against the wall, surprised to look up into concerned blue eyes; bluer than the sky and the clearest ocean waters combined and filled with twice as much more life.

Naruto.

She had never taken notice of him. She had never realized how tall he had grown, or how angular his face had become, or how broad his chest seemed to be now. He wasn't lanky, like Kakashi or Sasuke. He wasn't built for speed, but he was built for power and that ache within her… it intensified with something familiar in her chest between her breasts; an emotion she couldn't quite place in the sea of never-ending insensate had been complacently swimming in; wearing a bathing suit of steel to keep all other things out.

How long had they stared at each other? What did he see in her eyes now? In fact, what had he ever seen in her? She had been a horrible person to him their entire lives, insensitive from all angles, ignoring him and his feelings in favor of her hope and fantasies of a man who never cared for her that way in the first place. Gently, he peeled her arm out from under his Adam's apple, a masculine structure that had arrived on his body, evading her detection until now.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" He asked, seemingly wanting to say more, voice deeper than she last checked. She stared at him. She wasn't okay, but she wasn't dismal, either. She was nothing. He frowned, a small flame in his eyes of intentions unknown to her. That flame, that intensity was the flint that sparked her curiosity. There it was again; that thing between her subtle breasts; that pang of _something_ that she desperately clung to; desperately wanted to feel like a man lost in a desert would want to feel water on his lips.

"Everyone's been trying to find you—tteba—

She crashed her lips against his, flagrantly interrupting him, indifferent to the consequences to come. There was something about him that stirred something within her, roused the scientist within her that beckoned to test the anomaly and find out what exactly it was about him that did this to her.

There was a moment of shock, before something instinctual and _delectably carnal_ possessed him, and to her delight, he tempestuously kissed her back. He was experienced, more so than her. She wasn't surprised that Sasuke hadn't been the only one to taste a woman. Sakura's boys had always reached milestones before her, if only because of their lack of respect for conventional social routines usually imposed on boys of their age…of the age they had probably both been when they partook in what would normally be considered immorality by the majority of the population.

She dropped her drink; one of the many callously abandoned throughout the night, and only dimly registered the glass breaking across the dark laminated floor, ignored by everyone, including herself. Her hands fisted in his black and orange shirt, buttoned up and proper, so unlike what they were doing now. His hands cascaded like a river down her sides and onto her hips with easy familiarity, as if he were wielding a weapon, not just an object in his hands, but an extension of himself. Her heart rate escalated for the first time in almost a year. Her chest tingled with that mysterious _something_ she had forgotten about for nearly an entire year and dear, cruel, _kami-sama_… she was _pulsating_ between her thighs, beneath the scandalous red lace thong she had worn for no reason other than tradition and expectation of the event she had no choice but to attend. His lips carefully, hungrily and impatiently guided hers, like a master teaching a talented student. To her surprise they were soft and enjoyable, so sweet and pure, despite their tainted past, and her corrupted machinations towards him.

Her nipples hardened beneath her dress, rubbed against the inner fabric, only the first barrier separating her from him. His abs were sinfully hard against her flat stomach, his tall frame swallowing her in its warmth, light and playful chakra similar to soft wisps of wind deliciously teasing her own. She sampled the alcohol on his lips as they worked in tandem through their moment; he had been drinking something else; something masculine required of him, the hero of the war, something only he could handle. She wondered how he was more coherent than she was, but reminded herself that he was _always_ full of surprises. That ache grew and grew until he pulled her away by her waist, at half-arm's length, taking the opportunity to do so when their lips separated for just a moment.

She was _famished_; incontestably _hungry_ for more of him; a raging, unyielding fire igniting in the deepest, most intimate parts of her body and mind. It was fitting and logical that it would be him of all people to do this to her; to pull her out of her opaque nothingness. He was the one man that could tear down any wall, whether it was intentional on his part or not.

She looked into azure oceans, darkened with lust and promising of creatures dwelling father beneath the surface than she could have imagined, tinged with wary emotion and anticipation; a man wanting to step off the edge, but holding himself back. His lightly bronzed skin was flushed and she lasciviously flicked her eyes towards his cheeks, before flicking them back up at his face, at those endless ocean depths, and contrasting sun-colored hair.

"Sakura-chan wh—

Before he could ask why, she told him.

"I don't feel anything."

He paused, lust dimmed by analysis; something she found bittersweet. Bitter, because she _wanted_ to see that look, to live in it, and to gorge on it, do sinful things because of it; sweet because she discovered that his intelligence aroused her. Naruto had a different kind of intelligence from Sasuke…from that _demeritorious_ man that had plagued her entire life; that was plaguing her thoughts even now as she was juxtaposing him and the man in front of her. The two had always been opposites, like the sun and the moon, opposite skies of dark and light, only meeting at rare times of twilight and flourishing dawn. Their intellect was likewise diametrically opposed. Sasuke was analytical, bathed in strategy and forged in logic. Naruto wielded creativity like a sharp blade. In addition to this skill, his penchant for surprise and absurd concept proved his ingenuity was a rare genius of its own. Patiently, so unlike the boy she one knew, he waited for her to further explain.

"You make me feel." She expressed and bit the inside of her lips, nervous now for the first time in months; fear of rejection rising up like a poisonous weed in her mind. His eyes darted across her face, reading something she would never understand and he pulled her closer, nearly slammed her body against his and kissed her again. She stepped closer to him this time, fully pressed against his warmth, indulging wrongfully in his free and oceanic scent as she placed her hands on the back of his neck, lightly dragging her nails across his skin before her fingers roved over the folded collar of his shirt.

His voice was a combination of a hum and a grunt, nakedly exposing his desire as the solidness beneath his pants was close enough this time to rub against her stomach. She was no stranger to the male anatomy. A candid opinion of bodies of all types had been beaten into her the moment she begged for tutelage under Tsunade; yet his body, his erection, his hands and lips and breath and want made the feminine dew seep through her lace, dangerously soak the fabric and threaten to join the ranks of the many lewd scents throughout the salacious hall.

Naruto spared her from that impurity, as he pulled away from her, took her hand with only a scintilla of guilt passing through his darkened, needing gaze, and led the way through a doorway that metamorphosed flawlessly into a landing, and then a staircase. They passed so many bodies, all trashing moaning against the walls and on the landings of the floors they climbed past; some pairs and groups splayed over each other; still lapping at near-empty bottles of venom and reveling in the debauchery in front of them. Hurriedly, but savoring the warmth and promise of each other's hands, they stepped over the lazily scattered limbs and torsos and climbed further.

They reached a floor with many doors; a hotel above the hall below, perfect for drunken fools who've had too much. Sakura was sure there were enough rooms and enough floors to encompass all of the shinobi partaking in their poisonous acts below… partaking in deliciously corrupted activities that she was ready to sample and savor.

They found a door, responsive to chakra, that Sakura was sure was empty— she doubted Naruto would have it any other way, though seeing this new side of him threatened to crush that thought— perhaps he _had_ indulged before, in a room with many people, or with more than one person at a single time. Who knew?

Excitedly, and eagerly, _she didn't care_, except this time it was in the right way.

The door slammed and her back slammed against it faster than her slightly cottoned mind could process. Nature took over, and she naturally wrapped her legs around his muscular middle. He was strong enough to hold her up by her one wrist, and one hand on her waist, using his lower half as an anchor for her to rest on should she need it. His erection pressed against her the demure, but shameful clitoris and she moaned, throwing her head back as his lips caressed her neck, leaving fire in their wake as they teasingly moved downwards towards her subtle breasts. He sucked a nipple through the soft fabric of her figure-revealing black dress and with one hand on his broad shoulder, wishing she could use the other to touch his hair, she ground herself against him, relishing in the rewarding grunt and gentle bite on the sensitive mound he was attending to. His hand tightened around her wrist in reaction _and she liked it_. He slid the grip on her waist down to her thigh, pressuring the muscle promisingly, squeezing her backside as lecherously as she needed him to, and intentionally moved past the hem of her skirt.

Her disappointment was not lost on him. She felt his playful smirk as he straightened his torso, kissing up her shoulder, suckling skin here and there, the wetness of his mouth like _lava_ against the skin of her shoulder and prominent collarbones. She released a breath of air as his hand slowly, delicately, _torturously_ traveled up the expanse of her thigh, waiting, _waiting_ for him to touch her where she had never allowed male attention before. She contemplated begging him, but his playfulness was infectious; she smirked, finally feeling _something_, joy and excitement, as she ground against his cock further, feeling that concupiscent need mist over her mind. He nipped her neck as they moaned in tandem and slid his hand only _up to_ the hem of her dress, rewarding her for her action.

He teased and teased, running his fingers across her skin just underneath that _bothersome_ hem to the point where she wanted to be rid of it entirely, erase it from his mind and beckon him further upwards. She dug her nails into his shirt, undoubtedly prodding the sensitive, _burning_ skin beneath it and he released her wrist, tauntingly running his calloused fingers down the soft skin of her arm until they skillfully wrapped around the simple fabric covered with silver chain that was the strap of her dress. She tipped her head downwards, locking heated gazes with him, practically _glaring_ at him to continue.

Yet he devilishly teased her again. He slipped those torturously sensual hands up her neck, slowly, keeping his eyes on hers. Studying her every feature with scrutiny and want she had never imagined on him until tonight. His hand eventually ended at the back of her neck, beneath the curtain of hair she had neglected to cut but hadn't forgotten to style. He beckoned, eyes curious and silver-glazed in the moonlit room, with just the slightest bit of pressure, and she heeded him, threading her small fingers into his hair and leaning down to kiss him, slowly, sensually, meaningfully; a thank you for his miracle; the miracle that hadn't yet come to fruition. Not yet, but soon.

They were close; above all things they were _close_, had always been close, and had always worked together. They knew each other; knew almost every detail of each other's personality. This wasn't just connectionless sexual activity; it was something else she couldn't place her finger on; something else her mind couldn't yet taste and pin a word on. She trusted him; appreciated him; thought him to be special above all others; valued his life over Sasuke's in the direst of moments almost a year ago. Thus, they kissed, emotions flaring intensely and gratefully from him, and releasing her from the chains of her self-imposed abyss.

Savior.

He had always been one; troubled childhood or not.

His hand slid tantalizingly down the junction of her shoulder, sensuously played with the strap, before tearing it down. She moaned into his mouth and pulled her arm out of it, as he impatiently did the same to the other strap, spilling her naked breasts out for him to see. Her heart raced like a shinobi escaping an ambush, fruitlessly running from the inevitable. Though, she wasn't running; she initiated this, and she wanted him, _actually_ wanted him, for everything he was, for every last detail of his personality and body. She had never done this with anyone. No one had ever touched her this way. She doubted she would have been so aroused if it had been anyone else, even Sasuke. Hot sex, and burning tension was better than cold, heartless, pity-sex, she supposed, and Naruto would be fun, whereas she was sure Sasuke would be controlling. He kissed down her neck, teased a nipple with his left thumb, and rubbed delicious circles under that _damnable_ hem with the callous of his right thumb.

She groaned at the flames licking her skin where he touched, at the tenseness in her lusting sex, at the warmth of his hardened body pressing against her, at the lewd desire staining her inner thighs, and undoubtedly the black fabric of his pants. She was addicted to him, addicted to his teasing actions, making her want and want and _want_, battling for her to _beg_, knowing she wouldn't give in so easily. He kissed across her chest, scalding her skin with infernal desire, and pulled back to look at her as he pinched her pink, erect nipples resting proudly atop her perky breasts.

He smirked at her, a smirk she had _never_ fathomed appearing on his usually bright and exuberant face. Him watching her as he pleased her, so wanton against the wooden door escalated her pleasure in a perverse manner she never expected from herself. His eyes roved her expression and she _felt_ them burning her continuously where his lips stopped torturing for the moment. It was lewd, perverse, raunchy and dirty on all accounts, but _she liked it_. His hand rose higher on her thigh, riding up that wretched hemline to where she wanted it to be— away and gone— as he brushed against the jut of her hip, thumb then tantalizingly moving downwards on skin never reached before by hands other than hers. She jumped, surprised at how good his fingers felt, even one of them, running beneath the strap of her thong, traveling backwards beneath the lace, and then rubbing against the naked skin of her backside, so sensitive with desire she never felt before.

Looking down through her fading haze, she noticed a look of surprise widen his beautiful, incontestably attractive royal blue eyes, but surprise quickly turned into playfulness and he gave her a grin that he had never given her before; possibly reserved only for times like this that she had never been privy to the knowledge of.

"Dirty, Sakura-chan…" He _purred_ about her choice of lingerie. Surprise clutched her chest and mind; his voice made her slicker, with its low rumble only instinct could understand. She looked at him, shocked at the man she never knew him to be. She only knew Naruto the _boy_, not Naruto the _man_. That swirling, churning heat intensified as they gazed at each other, lustfully scrutinizing each other; him for her reaction, and her for the secrets of his personality she had never known until tonight. Slowly, with his eyes locked on hers, his hand traveled down her backside, beneath the scant, now useless lace of her admittedly salacious underwear and brushed his fingers gently against her opening, up and down, and then up and down again, merely testing territory he would soon explore. She gasped, her eyes blurred and she threw her head back, unprepared for the explosion of feeling he coaxed from her body.

"Naruto…" She breathily exhaled and ghosted her fingers over burning skin beneath the collar of his shirt; voice barely above a whisper. He chuckled again; such a delicious, sinful, deep and rumbling sound. She wanted to hear it again, desired to listen to it all night, wanted it to whisper into her ear like a demon charmingly threatening to illicit adult responses from her that she would certainly give if only to equally receive. He smoothed his hand to the front, where her lace was, teasingly running his thumb just beneath the silk panty-line— another annoyance she wanted utterly _gone_— and caringly abused her nipple some more. She enjoyed it, until he slowed his motions, making her squirm for more. She fleetingly questioned just where and how he learned this, and how he managed to hide it, before her mind once again pleasantly tumbled into the haze of intimacy and magnetism.

She wanted so much more that he was holding back from her, torturing her perhaps for all of the cruelty she had bestowed upon him throughout their lives. She would gladly take this punishment, no matter how cruel it was, and no matter how long it lasted, if only to feel him like _this_ the entire time.

"You're very wet, Sakura-chan." He murmured, so lovingly, yet his voice was full of play and promised denial.

"Mn…" She breathily agreed, and then gasped as his lips teased her neck again, sucked on her skin and then licked the small wound to evoke another unchaste moan from the very throat he pleasured, keeping her teetering on the precipice of anticipation and relief for his amusement, of course with the knowledge that it would make the actual sex ameliorating when they finally reached that blissful point of no return.

He gently squeezed and manipulated her sensitive breast, easier for him than manipulating chakra; as a second nature. She moaned ravishingly above him, arousing things within him he hadn't had the time to feel recently.

She felt so, so dirty. Her wetness was so hot between them, his size between them even hotter; everything was _so_ hot. She felt feverish with desire as his thumb trailed lower at a slower pace than she wanted. She was torn between loving and hating his torture, so confused yet so wanton and utterly ready for what was hopefully the inevitable.

"Do you want it…Sakura-chan…that badly?" He murmured with a lilting tease in his husky tone next to her ear, _mockingly_ kissing her earlobe with gentleness they both knew she didn't want.

"Naruto…" She begged, called his name out as solidly as she could; she failed at feigning control and the lust and want was evident in her tone to both of their ears. He chuckled again and nibbled on the lobe this time, breath fanning her heated skin, mercilessly heating it more with the action.

"Yes…" She whispered, traveling a hand up the back of his neck, rubbing his scalp sensually and then tugging on the roots as she pushed him closer to her skin as if it were physically possible.

"Eh? What was that, Sakura-chan?" His evasion of her response sparked surprise and frustration, however, almost immediately her mind changed; this was all just a part of the game she willingly and wantonly agreed to play with him… _asked_ to play with him when she kissed him downstairs. "…I don't think I heard you…" He purred, again with that lilting gaiety beneath the lust in his tone, nipping her neck, patiently entertaining himself with her skin as her mind sluggishly waded through lustful abyss to respond to him.

"Mn…Naruto…_please_…" The fog in her mind was so heavy. "_Yes_…_ I want you, now_…_please_…" She finally remembered how to restate her response and faintly noted that he had succeeded in making her beg. He released a short laugh and he caught her lips as he plunged his thumb over her _begging_ clitoris, making her yelp into his mouth and buck against him in reaction. Their kiss became fast, needy, perhaps even vengeful on her part for the tease he put her through, but above all, it was _fun_. He rubbed and he rubbed, but never enough or in the same pattern to make her climax. It frustrated her that it was his intention to do so; he was holding back her orgasm. She broke free from his lips to speak.

"Naruto. Bed. _Now_." She commanded as she was used to commanding; except this time with a heat touching her tone that she had never used with any man. She was done begging at his mercy. She wanted him, and everything he could do to her _on. the. bed. _He chuckled as his molten gaze roved over her exposed skin, eyes glittering as if deciding what he would do to it later.

"Sure." He replied a little too easily, so much like the Naruto she was familiar with, but with the hint of edge and danger in his voice like the Naruto she was only _just_ getting to know. It excited her, and he secured his arms beneath her, and carried her to the large-enough mattress in the Spartan room. The sheets were cotton, but soft as her exposed back touched them, yet none of those details struck her as hard as him pulling her dress down and over her toned backside, under her legs and off of the bed entirely.

She couldn't focus on the thump of the dress hitting the floor. His eyes were too much like blue fire, threatening to consume every inch of her body that they trailed over, slowly…_sensually_…sampling her first with their dangerous, hungry gaze.

"Naruto…" She whispered, and he smirked, those flames flickering a little at the mention of his name. He leaned over her, and kissed her, gently separating her knees, and effortlessly sliding in between, pressing himself against her silky sex and the ruined thong now well beyond salvation. His hand played cruelly with the remaining fabric, teasing her lips beneath it before a tiny moan from her motivated him to begin pulling the scandalous and drenched lace down her legs.

"Almost there, Sakura-chan…" He promised against her lips as he leaned back to finish his task. Her breath caught in her throat. He _promised_. Her chest filled with elation at the prospect of _finally _feeling him, _everywhere_, more than she had been this entire time. He gave her a warm smile, just barely tinged with lust, so like the boy she knew, before his eyes darkened, turned back to his task of throwing the red fabric aside and drinking in her appearance on the bed, silvered by moonlight, shy and surprisingly inexperienced beneath him.

She wondered what he thought of her. Was she beautiful to him? Insecurities began to mount. What was she doing? What was she thinking? Was she seriously _stupid_? What if he was doing this because he _pitied_ her?

… the scariest realization hit her.

….

….

_What if he picks Hinata over me? _

He must have caught the panic in her eyes, because he kissed her with an assurance only he could provide for her, gently cupping her cheek and running his thumb over her cheekbone. She melted into his mouth, into his touch, into his _fire_ and gasped as his fingers traveled downwards again and delicately ran along the drenched seam between her shut thighs. She moaned against him, grasped one of his shoulders, and one of his thick biceps, needing to feel more. She opened up again, no longer panicked, but assured and wanting, pleasure and reassurance overriding any insecurity she had felt before.

He hadn't said anything to stop those icy thoughts that threatened to cool their heat, but he didn't have to. His actions were strong and comforting, almost healing in a way. He assured her with his kisses and touches and teases that he was there, that she was beautiful to him; that he wanted more than anything to continue and fall further and further into impurity with her until they both hit the bottom. She moaned, wanting to feel so much more from him and gently opened her legs, giving him more room. He shifted, once again nestled so close to her, and touched her, _everywhere_. He touched in places she almost didn't know felt pleasurable. He touched her in places she ignored when she touched herself. He touched her and made her more than aware of her sex in its entirety and by the time she could almost take no more, he plunged two fingers inside of her, her wetness easily allowing him access into her body. She moaned and arched her back, lips crashing over his smirking ones, imploring him to kiss her. His tongue moved against hers, slowly, sensually as he explored her insides, gently pushing in and out until she was a writhing mess beneath him and the one palm he kept against her back, steadying her as he sucked and licked her collar bones, her head thrown back, uncaring of who heard her as she held onto his shoulders tightly. He lowered her and leaned back and her eyes widened, face reddened as she watched him bring his fingers to his mouth.

"N-Naruto! Don't—

It was too late, his eyes closed, delighting in the salacious taste as her mouth hung open.

"You shouldn't—

She wanted to tell him that he probably shouldn't stick that into his mouth, but that was the medical side of her exposed through her surprise.

"—taste it because it tastes good?" He teased, overriding her caution and finishing her sentence for her. Her feverish blush spread. It tasted _good_? His words made her hotter, wetter, bursting, impatient, but curious all at once.

He chuckled to himself; again that dangerous, telltale chuckle that always came before he did something she didn't expect. He leaned over; she could almost hear her heart pounding in her ears.

"Don't believe me… Sakura-chan?" She couldn't respond; she could only hazily focus on the sensual way he spoke her name, as if it belonged to him and only him in that tone. His fingers lifted up, and dabbed the bottom of her full lip with the substance, before he kissed her once again. She tasted herself on their synthesized lips and moaned perversely; he was _delicious_ with her taste on his. He teased her nipples as he kissed his way down her body…down past her belly button, fanning heated skin with heated breath as he paused to suck the skin in spots she didn't know were sensitive to stimulation.

She gasped in utter surprise as he delved his tongue between her folds and licked, slowly and gently in a rhythm she didn't know she liked. She exclaimed her ecstasy and touched his hair and his scalp again, almost fearfully as he worked her into a mess of moans and shudders. His fingers slid inside her and worked in tandem with his tongue to bring her to a place she was familiar with, but never in this sort of way. She desperately wanted at least one of his warm hands on her breast, teasing at least one nipple. She rubbed the back of his hand with her fingers, signing upwards and he understood, fulfilling her imaginations as she placed her hand on top of his. She climbed higher and higher to that orgasmic peak, surprised that it was still dark and that she hadn't reached the moon yet, while her nails dug into the skin on the back of his hand.

"Narut~o!" She moaned some moments later, clenched his hair in her hand and came with all of the buildup he had imposed upon her. Orgasm after orgasm hit her full force and her knees shot up towards her chest as her back arched. He helped her ride it all out gently pleasuring her, watching her climax until she was simply a beautiful panting _mess_ on the bed. She hadn't noticed when he started kissing her again, patiently waiting for that fire to ignite again.

It didn't take long; she wanted to feel it again, only with him inside her. She had never had sex before, and knew that for some girls it hurt. As a kunoichi she was less likely to feel pain, considering the fact that her hymen had broken long ago during a vigorous training session. She was thankful it was around Tsunade and the woman, being a doctor, completely understood. The memory and curiosity dimmed in comparison to the desire that snaked its way through her prone body once again.

She roved her hands and nails over his clothed sides, eliciting a sweet shudder from his body; a quiet gasp that motivated her to travel beneath the fabric separating them and lift his shirt up to the blockade that came in the form of his muscled arms. She made an impatient sound, simply wanting to be rid of the fabric, the barrier, and he chuckled.

"I want you to feel good too…" She wryly smiled at him, and then a tinge of seriousness bled into her tone. "Take your clothes off, Naruto." It was a quiet command, gentle and filled more with askance than demand, as if giving him the opportunity to run should he wish. He gave her a heated look, that animalistic gaze that seemed to make her sex tense with desire and leaned back. He grabbed the fabric, and ripped it over his head, discarding it somewhere she didn't care for. His skin was washed in silver, contrasting so greatly with its warm tone yet not swallowing it entirely. He was…_healthy_…_ready_… She had looked at his torso _countless_ times while healing him in the hospital, yet none of those instances compared to this one.

Her body reacted; mind noted how _provocative _his body was, had always been while eluding her attention. She trailed shaky fingers down the thick, hardened pectoral and abdominal muscles he was nakedly revealing to her, in such a foreign, but intimate way. She bit her lip, holding herself back from jumping him as her fingers touched his waistband. She noticed the protrusion beneath his pants and smirked, trailing her hands over his waistband, down the fabric on his pants, around the cock she knew he'd thrust into her sooner or later, teasing him, just as horribly as he teased her. She continued down his leg and rubbed her palm up and down his thigh. His azure flames cooled, glassed over like an ocean coated with ice.

She had never touched a hardened penis; at least, not one that wasn't hardened pre-rigor-mortis at an autopsy in some cold room nothing like the one she was in now. Curious, she ghosted over his entire length, gently with the back of her hand. He seemed lost before his eyes cleared and burned with that blue fire again…with that hunger she missed seeing.

"It's not nice to tease, Sakura-chan…" He playfully reprimanded with a heated smile. She felt bold, confident after the pleasure she had just experienced, so she smirked, catching a responding flicker of mischief and play in his eyes.

"Says the one who teased mercilessly…" She purred back, the thirst in her voice surprising her ears. He replied with a wink and a devilish smile— an expression that she had seen before on the boy, but meant entirely something different on the _man_.

"You didn't complain…na?" He quipped back, eyes trailing over her breasts, over her curves, her sex, her legs…everything that craved his attention, before flicking back up to meet hers, nearly stopping her heart with their intensity. She watched as those eyes averted downwards, towards his hand, in his pocket. He pulled something out with a quiet crinkle against fabric— a packet of condoms— he was prepared for this weekend…just in case. Her eyes widened a fraction, remembering that _she_ hadn't accounted for needing protection… He placed the packet aside and unbuckled the belt holding the rest of his body back from her.

Her breath stuck quietly in her throat as her eyes searched his body _hungrily_, wildly dashing back and forth across muscles whose movements hadn't fascinated her before she saw him this way. Her heart seemed to pound in slow motion as the remainder of his clothes slipped away; carelessly tossed on the floor beneath, revealing the rest of his body to her. She gazed up at him, momentarily ignoring what was waiting for her below his waist. He gazed back at her, so intently, with so much control, restraint and temptation in those royal blue eyes she'd come to love. She trailed her eyes across every hard plain of his body, across every round of muscle, down every line and angle and crevice, heatedly savoring his body with her gaze. She memorized him, there on the bed, in fear of this being the first and final time seeing him like this. She noted his size— if she weren't a medic, she'd assume there was no feasible way that his penis would ever fit into her. Delaying her inevitable pain in favor of play, she climbed to her knees, mirroring him as he watched and _watched _with that passion, with those ocean waves crashing and roiling beneath the silver-tinted azure of his eyes. He was losing patience…as was she; she wanted to reciprocate the climax he had given her. Thus, she touched the burning skin of his shoulders gently enough to provoke an exhale that proved his tension and his desire.

He rested his hands gently on her hips as she kissed his burning lips. He kissed back, silently waiting, _begging_ her to continue with his responses alone. Sakura had read porn of course, despite never doing anything pornographic. Kissing down his body was _very_ pornographic; the mere thought of doing such indecent things fueled the fire between her thighs, added flammable things to it and nurtured it more, yet not to its full fruition; only he could do that. He moaned as she breathed over a hardened nipple refusing to give it the attention he wanted for her own amusement and vengeance.

She trailed down _sinfully gorgeous_ abdominal muscles; so thick and hard…just like her goal at the end of her journey down his body. He shuddered and writhed the lower she went, suckling and nipping at skin here and there, all with the goal of making him reach the pinnacle of pleasure as she had only moments before. She sucked on a hipbone, licked across a sensitive muscle diagonally pointing _directly_ to where she planned on going, and he moaned in want, gently placing his hands on her petite shoulders as she slowly trailed her tongue across the length of his cock, tasting his soft skin and cleaning the proof of his desire off of his tip, sampling the salty-sweet filling that was uniquely his flavor.

"Sakura-chann…" His murmur was partly whispered, partly groaned, and partly full of _please_.

She looked up at him to find him burning her with his gaze, promising tempestuous, lush treatment later on. She couldn't disagree with that look; she wanted to do those mysterious, yet-unexplored things with him as much as he wanted to with her. Their bodies were new to each other, something the other had never touched this way before, and Sakura wanted to know him more. She had never blown anyone before, but decided that she'd learn. She stuck his tip into her mouth and he pitched forward just slightly in relief and released a moan louder than the ones before, oozing with _need_ and belligerent desire. She reached up and pressed a hand against his abdomen, applying enough pressure to command him to lean back. She had read a how-to in one of Ino's magazines before, and prayed that the one fact she thought was true, _was_ _actually true_. Hopefully, what men really wanted out of a blow job, was the woman having fun with it. She forced herself not to smirk; deciding instead to experimentally roll her tongue around the circumference of his head, savoring his taste in her mouth.

She heard his breath leave him as he threaded veteran fingers through her hair and tucked a lock of pink behind her ear, gently running his thumb over her cheekbone, watching her as she flicked her eyes up to look at him. Feeling adventurous, she allowed more of him inside her mouth, lapping at his underside with her tongue, rolling circles up and down his shaft, as she moved him in and out. She slowly, gradually increased her pace. The muscles in his abdomen contracted with an intake of breath akin to a hiss and his cock ventured further into her aperture. She moaned around the warmth in her mouth, now quickening her pace, moving in tune with every shudder and every shift of his body.

He spasmed in her mouth again, once, twice before he groaned in release, his voice a mixture of relief and discord as he cupped her cheek and finished inside her. She swallowed the heated, bittersweet fluid, and judged that his taste was erotic; _she liked it_. Thus she cleaned the remainders off of him, enjoying him convulsing above her, needing more. Sensually, he smoothed his hands down her one shoulder, his fingers across her nipple, causing her body to erupt in pleasant shudders as she sucked the last bits of his seed off of his skin. She finished and looked up at him; at the glowing blue coals that were his eyes. He placed a gentle, burning hand on her shoulder, and pushed. She followed, falling back onto the pillow, _praying_ that they weren't done yet. She looked longingly at his length and he chuckled as he settled in next to her on his side and teased her, running a finger up and down her slit. She turned to him, but he didn't stop, changing angles instead to keep his fingers pleasuring her. She shut her eyes with a moan as his fingers found her sensitive cluster of nerve endings and _rubbed_. With another lewd sound, she pulled him closer, aching for his warmth and his heat. He complied and kissed her as she writhed beneath him, little shudders of pleasure and promise darting through her body with each stroke of his thumb.

"Naruto…" Her voice was a whisper, but filled with the promise of volume should she be denied any longer. Incessantly, he kissed her as he rubbed her thigh, hip and bottom with one hand, before sliding it down the back of her leg and hooking it under her knee. He pulled her over his body and she followed, the muscles of her legs acting on instinct as her knees took their place on either side of him. He looked heated and mischievous beneath her, eyes _daring_ her to continue what he started, _promising_ her she'd like it. Absently, she stroked his hardened length in front of her, biting her lip as she pushed him against the nerves he was stimulating only a moment ago, while she thought of a way to do this with him. She would have followed instinct, if analysis hadn't temporarily hijacked her mind in an effort to impress.

Stalling for time, she reached for their protection ripped it out of its small, purple packet. He gently massaged her thighs as she rolled it on from the tip to the base, listening absently as his breath caught here and there. She looked down at him, honestly pleasured and wanting, not knowing how to explain her inexperience; not knowing how to ask for guidance; just a push in the right direction.

"Naruto, I don't know how—

"Try." It was the only command he had _ever_ cut her sentence off with; short but encouraging, despite the authority behind it. "Just have fun, Sakura-chan…" He added with a grin signature only to him, which prompted her to lift her hips. One of his hands found a place at her waist; the other used its thumb to stimulate her again, chasing the uncertainty from her mind. She moaned, her sex drenching her legs as she positioned his against her opening. He stopped for a moment, keen eyes and instincts catching the small pause in her movements. Their eyes locked and he tenderly glided his hands upwards to caress her waist. He stroked her smooth skin with his thumbs, looking concerned.

***"Do you want me to do it instea— _ah_!" Never one to show weakness, Sakura slammed herself down on him with a racy cry of pain-pleasure that had never left her throat before. She watched with pride as his azure flames widened in surprise, half-lidded in pleasure, and then shut to savor the moment with a quiet exhale of pure relief. She felt the last remainders of her hymen break apart as she took a moment to settle him within her. He jumped and squeezed her hips with her movement, eyes drinking in her form, lascivious gaze snaking over her breasts and nipples.

He began to move her hips, rocking them for her on top of him until those baking embers of fire sparked within her again. She dug her nails into his arms as he watched her moan, lifting her up and then slowly slamming her down on top of him until she comandeered his control and continued on her own. She applied pressure to his shoulders and leaned forward to feel his lips. She changed the positioning of her legs to suit the angle and pressed her torso as close to his as she could, indulging in his body heat and solid torso. He caught her lips, one hand on her waist, the other at the back of her head, gently massaging her scalp as her previously unexplored sex massaged his. Dangerously, she bit his lip, noted his smirk and his responding passion as their tongues clashed and breath mingled hotly. His grip on her waist tightened and some instinct told her he was close; that same instinct pushing her closer to her own climax.

Her hair fell over her shoulder, encasing them both in resplendent pink, eliminating the room beyond it. They broke free from each other's lips, just for a moment; just long enough for him to touch the pink curtain with his fingers and give her an appreciative smile, more emotional than lustful. His genuine expression made something in her chest burst; something she realized she hadn't felt in a long, _long_ time. She kissed him passionately to cover the tears that threatened to spill; conveying her thanks through her actions, which he openly received and welcomed. A quiet, breathy moan left his lips and mingled with all of the ones she was releasing. She understood him; he was as close as she was.

"S-Sakura-chan…" He whispered to her, holding out, just for her.

"I know… me too…" She whispered, the tension and pleasure swirling within her sex, engulfing the rest of her body in sinful delectation. The pleasure spread through her body like the most potent morphine. Everything he touched throbbed beneath his hands and fingers; ached to be touched more. When she lost herself entirely to the carnal desire that demanded satiation, she arched her back and gripped the hands at her waist as her pink hair spilled over her back. She felt herself climbing, reaching, moving _there_ again, but this time it was different; this time he was going there _with_ her. She felt him moving against his will beneath her, in too much ecstasy to stay still; the reaction furthered her ascension the last bit she needed for completion.

She was not expecting her orgasm to crash against her with the force of a tsunami; eliciting a moan unlike any other from her throat, loosening muscles she didn't realize were tense, and erasing everything and anything that wasn't _him_. His palms steadied her by the curve of her back as she dove further and further into nirvana. Again and again, her orgasms rattled her body as she rode them out on top of him, moving faster and faster until he came into her, slamming her down on top of his sex. In their shared bliss and connection she squeezed his hands as he pulsated within her; as his voice reached her ears, a melody to her mind. When their movements ceased, she fell over and held him, savoring that last bit of heaven they visited together.

Who knew how much time passed? Who cared in the first place? Their happy breaths echoed amongst the forgotten, cottoned music of the hall so many floors beneath them. She was satisfied, but by no means done; and judging by his hardness within her, neither was he.

Once more…

Just once more she wanted him.

"Naruto…" She begged as she leaned up and pleaded him with her eyes. He blinked, lust still evident amongst the surprise in his sterling-washed blues.

"A…gain?" He asked, unsure. Was it abnormal for a woman to want more? Mortification flooded her bliss like spilt blood on a polished wooden floor and she wondered if perhaps she had made a mistake in asking him. He caught the negativity quickly and pulled her down towards him by her arm, kissing her furiously, the dimmed fire between them blazing yet again.

He slammed into her once more as a reminder; causing her to moan, erasing all doubt from her mind like he's done so many times before. He flipped her over with all the skill of a shinobi of his caliber, but gently placed her on the pillow he occupied mere seconds ago, a true testament to his control. He slid out of her, rubbing her thigh as she wantonly moaned in response. Her misted consciousness dimly registered something sopping smacking against the floor and the crinkle of another condom wrapper before she refocused on him and felt his hands on her thighs, then behind her knees as he pulled her downwards across the cotton sheets, closer to him. His strength wasn't uncommon in shinobi of his caliber, but it still made the ache between her legs grow.

Viscerous pleasure possessed her, caused impurity to flow from the seam of her legs_,_ and yet again she could not get enough of his touch. A hand stilled her waist as he plunged into her, watching the euphoria bloom on her blushing expression. She wrapped her legs around his torso and they moved. Like a gentleman, he matched his pace to hers and listened to every rapturous noise escaping her lips, moving in the directions that satisfied her the most. She held onto his broad shoulders, kissing, sucking, and sampling the skin near her mouth. Answering, he caught her lips with his in a furiously passionate kiss, this time sinking his teeth into her bottom lip, causing her to cry out in pleasure and pull the soft, messy tendrils of his blonde hair at the roots. Their pace increased; she shook beneath him. All she wanted was one last time; one last trip to that euphoric space they could only call their own. Sweat built on their skin, made them both equally slick and lusting with the addition of their respective pheromones. Like a dance, he thrusted himself into her and she helped sheathe his length within her as deeply as possible. Each push and pull reminded her of just how thick he was; of just how pleasurable and rewarding their actions together were; how incredible everything felt… of how right his body felt against hers…

Selfishly, she climbed towards that great divide, until he smirked, interrupting her. She yelped as he rolled backwards and readjusted her so she was sitting on him instead.

"Just move…" He whispered gently, and rubbed a hand up and down her rib cage to entice her to obey. Sakura kissed him and fumbled for only a second, before she readjusted her legs, placed her palms on his shoulders, and pressed the side of her face against the silky locks of blonde on his head. This time, it was she in control, and she lifted herself up and down his shaft, just barely letting his tip out before lowering herself back down again. She felt her hair bounce across her back as she increased her pace, marveling in the intimacy they shared. Lovingly, he held her closer with one arm, and reached the other upwards to thread his fingers through her hair. She was moving too quickly for him to kiss her and thus she surmised the position was purely just for her. He moaned next to her ear; Naruto was always so giving.

One of her hands flew to the back of his head; she was getting closer and she wanted to hold him; to take him there with her. He grunted at the small force she used near his scalp and tightened his hold on her in response; that single action, so caring and gentle and full of his appreciation is what sent her over the edge. The image of her throwing her head back, the sounds of her moans, her heated skin against his, the lingering taste of her desire on his lips and all of the natural scents of sex overwhelmed his senses and he too, joined her in her euphoria. While coming down from her high, she laughed breathily, and he couldn't help but laugh at the mere notion that she was laughing for seemingly no reason at all. She pitched forward and held him; hugged him close. He squeezed her back; held her tightly as he rested his forehead against the slope of her neck and caught his breath to steady his heart. He felt her exhalations against his scalp and she felt his against her chest.

Minutes passed and neither spoke a word, simply enjoying each other's company. Her mind was slowly awakening to the reality of what they had done. The more time passed; the more the miasma of confusion grew in her head. What now? Where do they go from there? She had never done this before; what on earth to do now that they were both in their right mind? He must have felt her stiffen out of stress, because he spoke.

"We should get that out…Sakura-chan..." He murmured tiredly, and then snorted.

"I want to become hokage before I become a dad."

She started to giggle, and then laugh.

"O-oi!" He convulsed, the muscles contracting in response to her laughter overstimulating his sex. She gasped apologetically and used his shoulder to push off of him, and then settled next to him on her knees. He stripped off the condom with a snap that caused them both to snort and laugh yet again.

"Egh…" Lazily he threw the latex onto the floor and fell backwards onto the mattress into a starfish position, completely indifferent to the world beyond their room. He turned his head and looked at her, a soft smile gracing his face, the moonlight illuminating his hair and causing his eyes to almost glow. She blushed; heart palpitating in reaction. She reached up and placed a fist to her chest; a nervous tick she had always had. He grinned at her.

"You're not going to lay down?" He teased and she grinned back as she lowered herself next to his radiating warmth, placing her head on the junction between his shoulder and his chest. He used the arm she was hindering to caress her and bring her closer. Naturally, her hand traversed up his torso to rest on his free shoulder and one of her legs lifted to his waist. Deeming that they were exactly how they were supposed to be, he released a long sigh worthy of an old man after a long day's work. She giggled at the sound, to which he responded with placing his hand atop her forearm, rubbing her skin as if he were proud of her, and then pulling the completely disheveled sheets over them both to ward off the minor chill of the air-conditioned room. He immediately went back to rubbing her forearm; something she found was quickly lulling her to sleep.

Apparently, the action lulled him to sleep faster, because his breaths evened out and when she opened her heavy-lidded eyes he was peacefully asleep, his expression inherently happy even in dormancy. The silver light kissed his hair, tantalized her with delusions of being happy with him…as if that sort of thing was allowed for someone as awful as her, Haruno Sakura; the girl who rejected him her entire life. The realization that she was too late to earn his affections hurt her; pierced her heart deeper than any chidori Sasuke could plunge into her chest and at that moment she wished he _had_ actually killed her at some point in the past. Such an outcome was better than this utter devastation and heartbreak. After finally breaking the chains of her own sadistic mental breakdown; after _finally_ feeling something… the first thing she felt after nirvana…was misery, only heightened by the touch of his arm wrapping around her in her sleep. Tears leaked out of her eyes and onto his warm, beige skin, surprisingly resilient to the heat of his body.

Haruno Sakura is a selfish monster.

-X-

She stirred from her sleep and awoke with a small groan. Her eyes creaked open and registered a body beneath her, around her, encompassing her.

Naruto. He was like a furnace; a welcome luxury in the chill of the room.

She'd deal with the impending disaster when she acquired more sleep.

Much later, she awoke again, though this time, because the body around her stirred.

"Mm…Sakura-chan?" He groaned as he disentangled himself from her, sat up and casually stretched his back, cracking his joints into place. She watched him from her pillow, so afraid of his rejection she didn't speak. The rays of sun intensified his hair color and paled in comparison to his grin at the same time. The happy sunlight warmed the tones in his skin, unlike the moonlight that tried and failed to strip it of its hue last night. Music dimly played from many floors beneath them; the party was still ongoing though she was sure the live concerts wouldn't start again until tonight. Breakfast was probably cooling on some table for them; if not lunch.

None of it mattered. All of the external sensations paled in the wake of the storm her mind currently embodied. Everything was white-noise… everything but his voice. She decided on acting normal; it was her best bet. She almost snorted to herself: _normal_, when all of this was clearly _not normal_. If she were kami-sama she'd have laughed at herself.

"I need a shower." She murmured, breaking her silence, and sat up. Naruto chuckled next to her; not that lustful chuckle from last night, just a genuine sound of appreciation.

"After last night I don't think I remember what a shower is…" He replied in an effort to make her laugh. Despite her somnolence, he succeeded. She snorted, unable to help herself and soon enough they were both laughing. She threw a pillow at him to reprimand him for his suggestive response, but he caught it and gave her a wolfish grin.

"Oh, I get it Sakura-chan, you're into violence, huh?" He teased and her jaw slackened, then her nose wrinkled.

"_No_." She clarified with heat in her tone. "Absolutely not. I've had enough of that, _thankyouverymuch_."

Naruto snickered, playful as always.

"Eh? I guess you're right; that's probably Teme's thing anyway." He shrugged jokingly and laughed to himself at Sasuke's expense.

"Naruto!" She snickered and went to smack his shoulder but he used the pillow still in his arms as a shield. "_Hey_!" She dove forward, ignoring the sheet sliding down her torso and pooling at her waist. He refused to let her have her fun and blocked her entire body with the pillow, then threw them both to the side, back on the bed. Grinning at her with the pillow under his arms and Sakura halfway squished between it and the mattress, he jested with her yet again.

"You know, Sakura-chan, you're really onto something, we can _really_ have some fun if you go at me like that…" He laughed, but he would never be that boy again, not after the previous night. His laughter was more masculine, showed more of the kindhearted man he had become. She felt daft for not noticing him this way before… so, _so_ foolish.

"Naru_to_… come _on_…" She huffed, cheeks turning pink, but not staying so for long; hewas equally attractive during the day as he was during the night, and she felt little sparks of that need rising up, _poisoning_ her mind into taking him once more to feed the emptiness threatening to consume her again. "…if you want…" She winked flirtatiously. He chuckled but his expression became serious, even as his cheeks pinked.

"You know, I kinda broke the rules; I didn't buy you dinner first…" He trailed off, averting sky blue eyes to stare at a wall, a concerned crinkle forming in his brow. She didn't know if it was a rejection or not; it was something teetering in the middle of both so she matched wit with wit.

"You bought me dinner already." She responded and he snapped his head towards her, messy hair brushing his eyes and forehead handsomely. She wanted to touch him again; kiss him again; be his again.

"Eh?" He blinked, asking for elaboration. "What do you mean?"

"You're the only reason why I get to live to even think about dinner." She explained meaningfully. His eyes widened with sincerity and surprise, cheeks pinked with appreciation.

"Well, we kinda all did that together—ttebayo; you, me and teme, you know?" He scrambled for a proper response; trying to be modest and fair.

She smiled, her next words holding a double meaning. "It wouldn't have happened without you."

His expression morphed into shock and then tinged itself with doubt. He read what she implied, but he didn't want to make assumptions, for once in his life.

"Naruto…"

He gave her a tortured look, knowing that the game was over; the magic had ended and there they were, in reality, facing the consequences of their actions. Her breath hitched as she waited for him to somberly tell her that this was it and that they shouldn't have done what they did and that he just didn't see her that way anymore. She wouldn't, _couldn't_ blame him if he rejected her. He had sex with her, an ugly duckling, yes… but outside those doors, a genuine, _beautiful_ woman awaited him, uncaring of his faults and sins, loving him simply because she had _always_ loved him; unlike Sakura, who paled in comparison to her in everything but physical strength and medical expertise, and even then, Hinata was a quick learner.

In the thick silence, a sliver of confidence, of fire, of will, slinked into her soul. She could take his rejection. Sasuke's rejection was cold and cruel, but Naruto's would certainly hurt more now that she realized what she had lost after having access to all of these years; however, she could take it if only for the fact that she was happy it would be a clean, eternal decision; unlike her evanescent shadow of a relationship with Sasuke where she was never in the know, never in the place to sort things out and get a legitimate response from him. She could take this blow and swallow all the misery like a pill, or a viscous medicine thick with distaste and failure…but not before telling him what she felt; what she hadn't known she felt until last night when he unlocked the emotions she had been holding back. She took a deep breath, which caught his attention since he reverted to looking elsewhere in order to gather his thoughts, and spoke.

"I've been horrible to you." It didn't entirely sound intelligent, but in a nutshell that was what was plaguing her mind the most; it wasn't the fear of losing him, or the doubt in his affections for her, or the threat of being alone and empty… it was the guilt she felt for every cruel thing she said to him; about him; every cruel action she took towards him when he was such a beautiful person inside and out.

"Wh_at_? No last night was—

"Not last night, Naruto… our entire lives." She explained and his eyes widened when she met them, then softened in what looked like understanding.

"I've hurt you, more times than I can count, more times than I've ever been hurt. I understand that. I know what I did… And I'm sorry." She strained to keep her voice even as she continued, but it shook anyway.

"I shouldn't ask this of you. I shouldn't be so selfish, Naruto… not when you have someone that loves you _so_ much just waiting for you… but… but…" She stumbled and bit her lip, but she _had_ to finish so she swallowed the steel ball in her throat and continued.

"…I want you to buy me that dinner." She laughed, but it was bitter and void of joy, reflecting the dismal feeling of knowing he didn't love her any longer. "…not like just once because of last night, but on a date, or hell, you don't even have to buy me anything, all I want… all I want is…" She couldn't say it; it was too evil, too vile a thing to do to him and Hinata. They _deserved_ happiness but some vicious beast within her wanted that happiness for herself. He threw the pillow aside, startling her tears out of their eyes, but then quickly pulled her into him as he crashed back down against the mattress.

"…I want to be with you." She whispered as if confessing a terrible sin. "I didn't realize how much I love you… I didn't want to realize it because I don't deserve you… I didn't know anything until…until last night and… I'm so _stupid_!" That was the crack that broke open the damn; she broke down into her hands, covering her face because she had never insulted her own intelligence before, but the time was right to do so; she rightfully and pitifully deserved it. "I'm the most emotionally retarded kunoichi in all of Konoha's ranks and I'm not even making any _sense_!" She was a mess and to console her, his arms tightened around her, trying to force her shoulders to stop their patterned convulsions.

"I…" She interrupted herself with a sniffle, a disgusting, selfish, crying _fool_ beneath him; _not_ sexy, she dimly reminded herself somewhere in the back of her mind. "I really love you…" She sobbed more. "But I feel evil even saying that because you deserve so mu—

"_Stop_…already, Sakura-chan…" His voice was commanding in the beginning, soft and apologetic at the end. "I don't like you saying things like that about yourself…ttebayo…" He mumbled his verbal tick at the end, but it was still there.

"Naruto… how can you even argue? You deserve to be happy with someone who _hasn't_ disrespected you every other moment!" Now she was angry, yelling at him, what was wrong with him!? Didn't he get it!? How could he not!? This was bordering on insa—

"Because I don't love Hinata, Sakura-chan… I love _you_."

Her words died on her lips at his quiet, but simple confession. He blushed, looked away from her, embarrassed about something. He paused only a moment before he began to explain himself.

"I… tried to sort my head out… for a while. I like her, but not the way I like you." He shrugged and lifted an arm off of her to absently rub the back of his head. "It was confusing, during the fight back then. I thought teme came back to us, and you kicked _so much ass_…" He grinned at her for this, making her blush as she wiped away her tears with one hand. She _enjoyed_ his pride in her, it made her feel special in a way no one else could make her feel. All she could think was, "_Tch! Sasuke would never say __**that, shannaro!**__"_Naruto interrupted her thoughts with his tone; a little somber, a little deeper than she ever remembered it being, her heartbeat quickened, if only for the fact that he _sounded_ amazing, just like he did last night. He gazed at her shoulder intently, remembering every thought so he could recite it to her properly.

"I _really_ thought that you guys would just hook up or something because it looked like it kinda worked out even with him being an asshole and everything… you never hit him or anything, even if he deserved it—ttebayo!" He looked peeved and she smiled up at him. He _always_ got angry when Sasuke was an asshole to her.

"I don't get how things work in your head, or his, but whatever. I talked to Hinata-chan anyway… she knows it's not going to be like that. I didn't want to accept her feelings because if I do she's not going to get _everything_ and I think it takes _everything_ to make something like that work, na, Sakura-chan?" He then turned to her to see if she agreed.

"This—

He took her hand into his warm one—again, his skin _burned_ pleasurably against hers—and placed her palm flat against where his heart was on his chest.

—has to be in it a hundred percent, no matter what—ttebayo." He concluded with a different kind of determination in his eyes than the night before. It didn't matter whether she was his chain or not; he didn't like Hinata anyway; plain and simple. She still thought it wrong to feel less guilty, thus her conscience bounced back and forth, but she spoke anyway. Her response wasn't as intelligent as she wanted it; she certainly did not think before she spoke.

"…Oh…"

Naruto grinned down at her, adoration and mischief in his eyes.

"All right—ttebayo! Will you go out with me, now, Sakura-chan?" He grinned, practically sang her name, and asked her out with confidence he wouldn't have entirely had before last night. Entirely relieved, enough to a point where for once she cried out of happiness, she hugged him and laughed at the sheer insanity of their entire adventure. He rubbed her back as she laugh-cried into his shoulder and hair.

First, she was numb. He helped her feel. When he helped her feel, she realized how much he meant to her; how much she loved him. When she finally told him, he accepted her. For _once_ someone accepted her.

"Arigato, Naruto..honto-ni…arigato…" She squeezed him tighter, feeling his grin, rather than seeing it.

"Aa! Now…the shower, Sakura-chan… did you mean you wanted to do it there or—

"Naruto!" Her head snapped up, blush on her cheeks, surprised at his blatant perverseness. His eyes widened, afraid of the backlash, but she simply laughed. He laughed with her, and they laughed together until she smirked, luring his eyes with hers.

"Maybe… if you take me from behind this time…" She whispered sensually as she poked his cheeks pinked to the color of her hair, but he grinned anyway, energetically _jumping_ out of bed, pulling her along by her wrist. She thanked kami-sama that she didn't trip on the sheet in the process; he probably would have caught her if she did anyway.

"I'll race you there, bet you can't beat me~!" He childishly called over his shoulder as he released her and booked it stark naked towards the bathroom.

"Get there first and I'll kill you, Naruto!" She jokingly hollered back as she darted after him.

"No you won't, you won't have anyone to do you doggy-style then!" He blew a raspberry and flung open the wooden bathroom door, Sakura laughing just a foot behind him.

"Kami-sama you're so loud!"

He chuckled devilishly.

"Not as loud as _you're_ going to be!"

His hand reached the knob of the shower first and turned the water on. She shoved him into the cold spray and he froze up, icy water a stark contrast to his usually heated skin. Sakura giggled and jumped in after him, ignoring the cold and crashing against him just as he turned to face her. He caught her in time, but slammed against the cold tile behind him anyway. She decided to warm him with a kiss while they waited for the water to reach a comfortable temperature. He leaned down to catch her lips as she tipped her head up. She stroked the wet hair at the base of his neck as she chastely pulled away and smiled up at him, drinking in the adoration and bliss in his _beautiful_ azure irises.

"I love you Naruto." She whispered, almost as if it were a secret, just between them. He grinned down at her, unable to show any less happiness or any more restraint than that.

"I love you too, Sakura-chan." He promised, just as the water heated to the perfect temperature, melting away the chill.

-X-

THAT WAS EVERYTHING I WANTED IT TO BE! :,D YAAAAAY!

See ya later, Space cowboy!

Disclaimer: This work was written purely for entertainment; The author doesn't make any money off of it and does not have any affiliation with Naruto®™


	3. EPILOGUE

SENTAKU SURU

|2|

Epilogue 

Clouds of steam swirled in the quiet hotel bathroom like incorporeal phantoms, long forgotten despite their presence amongst the sounds of rushing water and heavy breathing; native biological music tinged with the occasional feminine moan or masculine grunt. The ghostly mist kissed Sakura's skin, disregarded in favor of Naruto's lips, hot and teasing yet alleviating as they quickly traversed up her neck and towards her subtle jaw. His chest and abs were hot against the skin of her soaked back, erection pressed against the feminine curves of her backside. The tiled wall of the shower had been freezing when he had spun her around and pressed her against it, but now Sakura wished it hadn't warmed up. Every cell and nerve of her body was on fire, wanting the _more_ that she lamented Naruto wouldn't yet give her. Wetness shamelessly trailed down her legs, fighting for prominence against the clear water trying to wash it all away.

He rubbed her triceps as his calloused fingers and palm made their way up her arm, pushing it higher and higher against the tile until her forearm and elbow was completely flat against it; until her subtle breast couldn't compress anymore. His hand covered hers, keeping her pleasantly trapped in place, and she instinctively spread her fingers out in an effort to lace his with hers. Gently, his digits took the spaces between hers and their thumbs mingled affectionately against the flat surface.

He kept his other arm solidly wrapped around her torso and under her arm to tease her nipple, and play with the sensitivity of its respective breast. She moaned as her vision of the adjacent wall fuzzed; shampoo and conditioner bottles amongst other soaps distorted into a smear of color and steam as she opened her mouth in a gasp. In response, she used her elbow to lock his arm into place against her ribcage; she did _not_ want him to stop; it would be torture to her lust-drunken mind. Honorably, he held her with his strength as her knees weakened, grounding and protecting her from falling into the rapturous void he imposed upon her.

He sucked the sensitive skin just underneath her jaw, motivating her to tilt her head upwards, messily plastering chunks of pink against white while giving him more room to tease. She squirmed beneath him, slovenly wanting more pleasure, asking for the euphoric high that only he could relieve her with.

And there it was again: his voice; husky and lusting as he chuckled against the curve of her shoulder. She bit her lower lip, clandestinely wishing he would instead as she anticipated whatever was to come next. He pinched her nipple, simultaneously pinching the last of her will and she cried between him and the wall as he lifted his head to kiss her temple through her damnable hair; an abhorred barrier between her burning skin and his irresistible lips. With a degree of restraint against his own carnality, he slowly and lovingly kissed down her face, as his hand roved down her stomach, savoring the toned, feminine muscle and rubbing a circle around a raised hipbone. She knew what was coming; her body expected it; craved it; _needed_ it. Her back curved more, grounding his cock against her body causing him to grunt and press his forehead against her temple, as if holding himself back from his satisfaction for her own safety.

She didn't want that.

She ground against him again, and he released the low grunt she wanted him to; harshly squeezing her hip the way she wanted him to. Pleasure and anticipation churned between her legs as he nipped at her neck, and then kissed downwards.

"Sakura-chan…" He sensuously began, but sucked on her creamy skin, causing her to moan. She almost couldn't believe that he had the ability to tease her with just his voice—she wanted to hear him again… and again and again and again— yet this was Naruto and he could do anything. Making her want him with just his voice was an easy feat compared to all of his other numerous successes. All sense bled away as he slipped his fingers downwards, and waited just a moment for her to squirm in need again before he slid them between her folds and _rubbed._ She tensed, arched and cried out lasciviously, her voice an a-cappella to his ears, wanton expression a delicacy to his hungry cerulean eyes.

"…that was really dangerous…" He murmured into her skin, licking a small spot he had just sucked on, kissing the sensation away, and leaving pleasure in the wake of pain as he chastised her for what she did before. To challenge his statement and rebel as was in her nature, she circled her hips again, boldly savoring his responding _ah. _

"Sakura-chan…" He unconvincingly and breathily warned, but she only continued to vengefully tease him, running her body up and down the sensitivity of his shaft, positioning it between her legs, tantalizing him with her opening and scalding extracts as he froze above her, barely holding onto the last bits of control as he grunted and hissed in pleasure. She pitched her hips forward, sliding her sex and her entrance over his tip, snapping his patience in two. Before she could torture him more, he took what she so lewdly offered and plunged himself into her, jarring her and her voice as she gasped and breathily cried in relief. The feeling of him filling her, connecting himself with her was more emotionally satisfying than anything she had ever felt before. She _loved_ him and it was the most wonderful thing to know that she was finally loved back and no less by someone truly spectacular.

"…Don't hold yourself back…" She took a second to breathe as he stilled within her, idly rubbing her clit and ravaging her neck as he waited for her to continue. She gasped and twitched as he licked her throat while she breathily spoke, "…_ever_ again…" He moved, just slightly in and out, knowing she wasn't done yet. "...please..." She finished, changing her command into a request. He chuckled into her ear, kissed and _so_ gently nipped the lobe, and then nodded against her temple.

"Alright… if you say so, Sakura-chan." He didn't wait for a response as he seized the moment to thrust in and out of her. She exclaimed and he watched in ecstasy as her palm tried to grab the wall, bend it into her fist like a sheet to no avail. He wanted to pleasure her more as she writhed beneath him, thus he slid his palm off of her raised hand, and traversed down her arm, watching as she lowered the limb to place her hand against the wall. He thrusted as his hand found the breast pressed against the wall and expertly slipped in between to protect it from the tile. He squeezed her nipple and rubbed her sex simultaneously as he pushed himself in and out of her, savoring her scalding temperature around his pressured cock. Her wetness clung to his skin and the silky hair above his sex, impossibly scalding already calescent skin; the heat of the water at his back could never compare, even if it had a hundred years to do so. Her breathing became ragged, lascivious and verged on becoming wanton moans as he increased his speed. He enjoyed making her feel good; sex was just that simple. It was gratifying to know that he was doing something right, especially with the woman he loved from the moment his young eyes caught sight of her. In their current situation, it was too complicated to think that back then, some instinct –possibly the nine-tailed bijuu's— had told him she was for him; the _only one_ for him. He had never questioned the innate perception and in the moment, their connection: him literally within her with her clenching around him, felt utterly and incontestably _right_, as if the universe had somehow planned their union this entire time.

Naruto was so close to that place within her body that would certainly send her over the edge if only she could feel more of him there. Losing herself in the pleasure, she slid further down the wall, startled him as she slight shifted her feet back, delighting in the feel of his cock targeting her where it counted as he stumbled back into place within her, recovering from his surprise at her movement. She rested her temple against the wall and curved her back, moaning indecently as he more than pleasured and bent over her to furiously stimulate her clit while steadying himself against the wall with his palm. Esoteric breaths metamorphosed into uninhibited moans and she couldn't hear her own voice over the euphoria of their collective actions. He worked her to her breaking point; pulled in and out in just the right way until she finally felt herself reach the zenith of bliss. She slammed her knees together, trapping his fingers between her folds as she climaxed, raised herself against the wall and moved her hips to feel him _everywhere_ within her, touching and reaching every corner as they moved in unison, conceding to what their bodies naturally commanded from them both during such powerful ecstasy.

"_Shit_."

With fear that somehow managed to meld with pleasure, he pulled out of her prematurely, leaving her halfway through her climax to moan and writhe against the wall. He pitched forward and rested his forehead between her shoulder blades, desperately using the last of his reason to aim in some direction away from her sex. He lost the last bit of control he had and groaned as he settled the tip of his cock against her lower back, cresting and finally spilling all over her heated skin. The haze in her mind intensified as she felt his heated fluid pleasurably burn her skin while he plunged his fingers into her and pushed them in and out, endearingly intensifying the last bits of her effervescence despite his own haziness to make up for his temporary but necessary absence. He waited for her to calm as he repossessed both of his hands and held her close against him so they could catch their breath _together_. It was carnally and viscerally satisfying to please her from behind, however, he couldn't help but feel mildly impersonal throughout the brief affair; he preferred to share control, convey his love through his kisses, and study her face as she tumbled through nirvana.

The waves of pleasure finally languished enough for her to lean her head back against his broad shoulder and feel his heart beating furiously against her back, filling her chest with warmth and adoration; emotional and physical _satisfaction_. He smiled almost tiredly as she crossed her arms over his, gently resting her palms on the muscles holding her liquefying form against him. As their breaths fought to even out, he pulled her backwards, through and then behind the spray of hot water to lean against the adjacent wall. She almost tripped, forgetting for a short moment how to walk backwards before she righted herself against him as his hand slid up to press against her chest to feel her heartbeat against his palm. He pressed his cheek against her temple and fanned her jaw with his exhalations as they both rested and basked in the post-coital euphoria, uncaring of the impurity they were both still covered in.

"_That_…was really dangerous…" She murmured, correcting his earlier statement as she realized that they avoided a brush with a pregnancy that they weren't ready for.

"Aa… I almost had a heart attack back there—ttebayo." He agreed tiredly and she felt him tilt his head into her hair before he yawned against her scalp. She smiled, feeling accomplished now that he was pleased, and twisted around in his arms, rubbing his shoulders in an absent show of pride as he leaned down to gently kiss her in thanks. She slid her hands down his chest and further down his sides to hold him by his hips as he rubbed his semen off of her skin. She felt his fingers catch several times, wondering why it didn't just come off like her liquids usually did; in all her years as a medic she had never experimented with wet semen and was thus surprised at the biology of the moment. She felt him frown against her mouth before he released her lips. He groaned distastefully.

"_Why_ is it nasty like that?" He grumbled to himself and she giggled as she adoringly squeezed him around his mid-section. He reached up and somewhere behind him, knocking a few soap squares to the floor before picking one up and tearing the baby blue wrapping off of it. Sakura snickered.

"You dropped the soap Naruto…"

He looked down at her, mocking and feigning a surprised gasp.

"_Sakura-chan_ I didn't know you were into _that_ kind of stuff!"

They laughed together as he rubbed the soap across her skin, ridding it of his smut entirely. She rested her forehead against his collar bone, kissing his skin and enjoying him pampering her for the time being. Before long, she reached up to the small shelf to see if there was any more soap left. He ignored what she was doing in favor of traveling up her spine and washing the rest of her back, filling the bathroom with a clean scent, as if to erase the smell of sex and adulteration they previously fused into the air. Sakura stood on her tiptoes and Naruto steadied her with an arm, in case something went wrong and she slipped. She smiled in satisfaction as she found a lonely bar of soap, steadied herself back on the shower floor, and ripped it open behind his back, discarding the wrapping who-cares-where. She ran the bar across his broad back, eliciting a soft sound of appreciation from his throat; it was likely that no one had ever been so emotionally intimate with him before. Even if he did have sex before her, she doubted that there was any _true_ emotion involved; not like this where the little things mattered most. He chuckled lazily and kissed her cheek. She laughed back and paused in her movements, causing him to do the same as if he sensed that she was about to speak.

"I'm really hungry." She revealed with a blush. Naruto laughed in response.

"Me too! Let's stop wasting time, na?" He replied, grinning brighter than the sun itself, and stepping away to run the bar across his chest and under his arms. She laughed as they both set to cleansing every nook and cranny possible— shinobi had great senses of smell, after all, and neither had talked about whether or not they should be open about their new relationship yet. Once done, they discombobulated the neatly placed towels on the drying racks, grasping the cloth to ward off the sudden chill the absence of hot water punished them with. Naruto rubbed the water out of his hair, and caught Sakura staring at him with her bright, malachite eyes as she dried the ends of pink tresses.

"Eh? What is it Sakura-chan?" He queried and smiled in surprise as she quickly looked away with a blush. He grinned victoriously. It was nice to have her attention on him for once. His entire life, she only had eyes for Sasuke. He reached out and steadied a hand on her hip as he slid the small towel off of his hair and kissed her forehead, lips caressing the purple diamond in the center.

"Sakura-chan, we're never gonna leave if you keep doing things like that." He softly joked, clandestinely wishing for the moment to never end, despite his protesting stomach.

"I can't help it that you look good!" She defended hotly, cheeks the color of her hair and Naruto laughed in response.

"E~eh, better-looking than Sasuke-teme?" He jokingly waggled his eyebrows, not really expecting an answer, but to his astonishment she laughed and tipped her head up to kiss his chin.

"Actually… yes; now that I think about it." She softly admitted. He felt his blood rush to his neck, ears, and cheeks. He pulled her in for a hug and crushed her small frame against his body. She had absolutely no idea how much it meant to him to be placed above Sasuke in _something_ in her eyes. It didn't matter that he was victorious in something as superficial as physical appearance; the important thing was that he was and that she valued something in him more than she did in Sasuke.

"Naruto…" She whispered softly as his arms tightened around her. She sensed the emotions rolling off of his body almost immediately. His hug wasn't one of happiness, but of relief, like a lost child finally reunited with his parents, finally able to release all of the pent up fear and panic of separation. It was then that she realized he truly didn't know how much he meant to her; wasn't even aware of it yet. The thought made her angry more at herself than him that he'd think Sasuke was still above him to her.

"…You know that I think better of you than I do of Sasuke…don't you?" She even dropped the honorific on the Uchiha's name; if only because she wanted to prove to Naruto that the Uchiha wasn't so special to her anymore.

He hugged her tighter; no he hadn't known, just as she thought. She bit her lip; Naruto had quietly suffered this entire time and she hadn't done anything about it until now. She really was a terrible person, despite the fact that she had his unconditional forgiveness and love. She would have to work from this moment on to make up for everything. She figured she might as well start _now_; immediately.

"…You're kinder than he is; gentler; sweeter; more open; easier to communicate with; easier to love and cherish…when it comes to you everything clicks right into place; you keep your promises. You're better-looking; I don't care how many women drop their underwear for him; and I _know_ you're stronger than he is, as a person and as a ninja…" She whispered that part, almost as if she were afraid said Uchiha would somehow hear her and skewer her for her comment. "…but most importantly, you're more special to me than he ever will be. I feel really dumb for being obsessed with him as a kid; I didn't see that you were _right there._ You're my teammate and my friend and I _trust_ you way more than I can trust him. I've spent more time with you than I have with him and you never worried or disappointed me in the ways he has. I'm really sorry I didn't notice any of this sooner…" She spoke with passion but finished with a soft apology.

Something wet and warm dripped onto her neck and rolled down her back to be absorbed by the towel wrapped around her body. Naruto's shoulders weren't shaking, but she knew he was crying. She squeezed him tighter and tilted her head to kiss whatever she could of his neck as she lifted a hand to rub soothing circles into the warm, damp skin of his back.

_I'm so sorry Naruto… I promise things will be better from here on out_…

"_I love you_." She reassured. "I wasn't joking when I said that earlier. I wasn't lying. I'm _not_ lying." Her tone held a hint of desperation. Did he trust her? She lied about her affections before… How _utterly stupid_ of her…

_Please believe me…_

"I know…" He replied softly. "Arigato, Sakura-chan…" She almost _felt_ him grinning; somehow the entire atmosphere changed as he released a laugh and pulled away from her, rubbing the wetness away from his sky-colored eyes and pink cheeks. "I love you too." He replied, and then his stomach growled and his cheeks further reddened.

"I think my stomach says that it loves you too." He snickered and they both burst into laughter.

"I think your stomach might love food more than it loves me." She corrected. He rubbed the back of his head and gave her an embarrassed chuckle.

"No, it loves ramen more than anything."

She laughed again and gently shoved him for the silly comment. Afterwards they spend time brushing their teeth, fighting over dominance for the porcelain sink and who could brush Sakura's hair better afterwards; of course Naruto sorely lost that contest despite his previous valiant proclamation of victory. As she tightened her towel around her chest, he grinned mischievously and opened the bathroom door.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, I bet I can get my clothes on quicker!" He challenged as he ran past the threshold and ransacked the pockets of his ruined pants on the floor. Sakura smirked as she sauntered into the bedroom after him.

"And I bet I can ruin those clothes before you can put them on…" She confidently half-threatened with crossed arms.

He lifted his head and looked surprised to hear something so perverse come from her of all people, toward him of all people, but then he grinned.

"We can find out some other time; don't you wanna eat?" He asked as he pulled a small paper out of his pocket with a storage seal stamped onto it. Sakura giggled and spotted her dress on the floor next to the nightstand. She ghosted over to the discarded outfit and lifted it off of the floor. Flipping it inside out she found the hidden pocket and pulled out a storage seal on a folded square paper identical to Naruto's. She heard a poof and then the almost inaudible sound of fabric hitting the floor and knew Naruto was well on his way to being unfortunately clothed. She dropped her own towel around her ankles and poured a tiny bit of chakra into the seal, pulling out a pair of black shorts, a sleeveless black and white blouse and a set of wrap-around heels.

She dressed, tucked the blouse into her shorts and tied her hair up into a messy-but-elegant style. Before she could turn around to look into a mirror, Naruto had hung himself over her and kissed her cheek. She grinned at the affection and turned around. He dressed in a casual, white button-up and simple black slacks and shoes; Sakura grinned at the orange belt buckle peeking through the unfastened bottom button. She felt herself blushing under his loving gaze, and blushed even more when he tipped his head down to kiss her. Smiling against his lips, she kissed him back, lovingly and adoringly. He cupped her jaw and ran his thumb across her cheek as he pulled away. She smiled up at him.

"We're starting to procrastinate as much as Kakashi-sensei." She shook her head at her own laggard behavior; it was so unlike her. Naruto shrugged.

"We're supposed to be relaxing and having fun anyway." He grinned, and then held out his hand. "Let's go."

She took it and squeezed as he energetically led the way through the exit, locking the door with his chakra behind them. Sakura wrinkled her nose at the sight beyond their door and the privacy of their room; the hallway looked like a post-apocalyptic mess; nearly no different than what the battlefield looked like after the war: bodies strewn everywhere, feces, vomit and other queasy bodily fluids stained the pristine wooden floors, usually in a pool around someone's face.

"I thought my apartment used to be really bad, but this is serious." Naruto commented, blinking at the scene.

"It smells disgusting." Sakura replied, perturbed.

"So… wanna bring the food back here?" Naruto asked and Sakura smacked his chest in response.

"Naruto!" She chastised as he flinched, and they both started laughing. "If we bring food into this mess I might have to test us for all sorts of diseases; I think the food court is safer." She explained.

"I wanna keep my food in my stomach too." Naruto agreed and started stepping over bodies and dodging puddles of…whatever that was on the floor. Sakura struggled in her heels, but kept up anyway. The stairs proved to be more treacherous, once they rounded the corner and looked down the stairwell. En entire section of the stairwell was blocked by half-naked, naked and clothed shinobi of both sexes, beer bottles and shot glasses still in their hands as they slept entwined with each other. Sakura grimaced at the sight on one shinobi drooling all over some kunoichi's exposed breasts. There was _no_ way in hell she'd ever be able to jump down a flight of stairs and _not_ break her ankles in her shoes, or successfully step over and around the mess of limbs without unintentionally impaling someone. Dejectedly, she sighed as Naruto started down the first few steps before the huge mess of passed out people began.

"Hang on, Naruto…" She beckoned as she grabbed the rail and lifted a leg to unpin her shoes.

"Eh?" Blinking, he turned around. She missed his eyes widening choosing instead to find the tiny clasp somewhere in the vicinity of her ankle. "Ah, wait, Sakura-chan!" He floated up the stairs with surprising grace as she lifted her head. He grinned at her and held out his arms. She smiled back and nodded; no words were needed between them to necessarily communicate. He approached her and wrapped a limb around her delicate waist while she slipped a feminine arm across his masculine shoulders. She jumped up as he placed his other arm beneath her knees. Looking up at him, she blushed; he had carried her and held her more times than she could count; yet none of those times compared to this one. She had never seen him in _this _light when he had carried her before; it was an entirely different feeling. She imagined feeling like this with Sasuke countless times; _countless_. She imagined being in his arms, the apple of his eye. Now, she couldn't fathom how far her head must've been up her ass.

Sasuke could _never_ compare. Naruto felt warm in both forms of the word, and stable; secure, _strong_. She was surprised to feel his heart racing against her side and the exposed skin of his forearms burning beneath her legs and through the back of her blouse. She felt safe and her chest felt full with all things positive; not a shred of heartbreak, emptiness, or melancholy left. He had singlehandedly and successfully diverted her analytical mind from the numb hell she'd been sifting through since the war ended.

If she had known that this was what it would be like with Naruto earlier she'd have ditched her stupid childhood infatuation with Sasuke sooner. Sasuke didn't have the ability to love as warmly as Naruto; at least she didn't think he did. It was shallow and cruel of her to think, but she truly felt bad for whatever woman he'd settle for. She didn't believe there would be any cherishment, tenderness, or affection of this magnitude for that woman and Sakura was glad she didn't have to be her.

She felt Naruto tense and before he could jump down the stairs, she hugged him as best as she could from her awkward angle and kissed his cheek. His face pinked a little and he gave a nervous laugh. She gave him a confused look.

"Why the laugh?" She asked, honestly curious. Naruto laughed again; it was a happy sound, one that she didn't realize she liked hearing throughout the years. She was a fool to have never noticed how his laughter and happiness put her at ease and settled her nerves; if Naruto was laughing then everything was all right, and if it wasn't it would be soon.

"I keep thinking I'm going to wake up from a dream… I, um, you know, never thought you would be so… you know…" He struggled to find the appropriate word, afraid to agitate her.

"Affectionate?" She asked. A light went off in his mind and shone through his eyes like the sun through cerulean stained glass.

"Mn! Affectionate." He agreed. She smiled at him because if he thought this was her best, he was in for many surprises in the future.

"It's not a dream, baka." She grinned and then kissed him again, startling a small sound of surprise from his throat before he laughed and grinned again.

"Alright-ttebayo!" And he was off; sailing over passed out shinobi left and right, sticking to walls and even bouncing off of the ceiling on occasion. She held onto him as he sped through corner without stopping at top speed; if only to impress her. It worked and she laughed, entirely intoxicated on the absurdity and play; only Naruto could make a trip down the stairs a fun event. A fleeting thought crossed her mind; one that whispered that he would be a fantastic father, and her heart literally stumbled as she chastised herself for thinking about such things so early on.

He halted and slid to a stop about a foot away from the entrance to the food court. He set Sakura down and her eyes widened when she turned her head to find the _entire_ dance floor in disarray; tables were on their side, glass lay everywhere, some shinobi to her left was sleeping with his head propped up on a bottle of beer, and there was just _trash_ everywhere… One or two people fell asleep in chairs, one with his head back against the wall, balancing the chair on its back legs, and the other on the floor, his seat spooning him from behind… even the band on the stage was sleeping off a drunken stupor. Some unfortunate, universally damned janitor was slowly making his way around with a push-broom. A coworker, more like a savior in this scenario entered the hall to give him a hand. Naruto snickered.

"Should I henge into Madara-jiji?" Naruto asked mischief thick in his tone. She glared at him and he gave her a sheepish smile. "Too soon?" He asked and she shook her head in response.

"I can't believe that thought _actually_ crossed your mind." It would be cruel to terrorize shinobi that had survived Madara's wrath, even if it was an innocent prank on his part.

He shrugged; it was in his nature to jest. "Let's go." He grinned, pressed the panic bar on the door and pushed. The cafeteria had been locked the night before and rightfully so. Compared to the wedding hall they left behind; it was _pristine_; a heaven separated by a thin wall from the hellish dance floor. There was not a single napkin in disarray. Tables were covered in brightly-colored cloths, the ceiling was high and the windows on the left wall were gigantic; allowing maximum sunlight to flood the room; illuminating the entire kitchen behind a small, elegant wall. Neatly-dressed comrades sat in groups of six or more, some watching the cooks in white, and others nibbling on pastries as civilian waiters smiled and catered in elegant black and cerulean, a color still dull in comparison to Naruto's eyes. Sakura blinked and Naruto poked her cheek to set her mind back on track. She turned to him and shook her head.

"I can't believe we're in the same building." She expressed, still amazed at the difference a single locked door could make.

"I can't believe we're not eating yet." He countered with a smile.

"Forehead!"

They both recognized the high-pitched effeminate tone and the nickname. Yamanaka Ino crashed into Sakura, squeezing the life out of the woman, who reciprocated the friendly affection.

"Ohayo, Tonton." Sakura jested back and Ino made an offended noise.

"Hey!" They blonde hissed.

Sakura laughed, and caught Naruto's eyes as she slid her arms off of Ino's shoulders. She nodded towards him and he reciprocated the action before he turned away to find a seat; this would take her some time.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. How are you?" Sakura asked, genuinely happy to see her friend so ecstatic.

"I'm _great_; you'll _never_ guess who I slept with last night!" She squealed in excitement as quietly as she could. Sakura rolled her eyes, but then smirked to herself. She wouldn't say anything, of course, but Ino would never guess who _she_ had slept with, either… Ino hooked her arm around Sakura's and started leading her best friend towards the bathrooms.

"Okay, so when we _finally_ found an available room…"

-X-

Naruto crashed into a comfortable chair next to a perturbed Sasuke holding his head. The Uchiha was at the very end of a large table that seated nearly all of their friends. Kiba, Shino, and Hinata greeted Naruto, and went back to their previous conversation, while Shikamaru and Choji waved at him from the other side. Lee, Tenten and Sai noticed him and nodded, TenTen and Lee giving more of a reaction than Sai, of course, and Gaara, Temari and Kankurou chatted with Cee and Karui to his immediate left.

"Yo~o Naruto!" Karui greeted lushly, still drunk from the night before as she slung an arm over his shoulders, grinning madly. Naruto nervously laughed as Kanurou and Temari snickered at him. How on earth has the woman _not_ thrown up yet? Her breath was laced with pure liquor and not much else, and he was sure he had seen her drinking the night before.

"O-oi…Karui-chan…" Naruto greeted back, cautiously.

"Ne, _ne_… y'know… I'm sorry I beat…your _sexy_ face in…s'rs'ly." She slurred. "You're so hot and I t'lly punched you." She glared at the table, upset with herself. "Who th''ell does that…? Tha'sss mean, y'know? Mean, like that Ssasu-_gay_ guy you said's your friend. Whass up with 'em anyway?"

"Enough, Karui, you're getting belligerent." Cee pulled her back into a relatively seated position on her chair and shook his head in apology towards Naruto, who only laughed, relieved to be out of the situation. Gaara smiled at him and tipped his head towards Sasuke, to which Naruto nodded as Karui started crying and wailing into Cee's chest: something about him "breaking her feelings"…

"Oi, temee." Naruto greeted, and then clapped a hand on Sasuke's shoulder with more force than entirely necessary. Sasuke's head snapped up sharply, his glare even more cutting, despite the fact that the Uchiha had bags under his red eyes that weren't exactly vermillion because of the sharingan as much as they were because of a supposedly hellish night.

"Geez, what happened to _you_—ttebayo? Looks like Orochimaru shoved a snake right up—

"_Shut it_ dobe." Sasuke seethed like an angry cobra disturbed from slumber within its basket. Suddenly, the Uchiha's eyes narrowed, suspicion plaguing his expression.

"Who'd you sleep with; you're more annoying than the sun today." He grouched. Naruto hollered with laughter.

"Apparently with someone better than you did." The blonde snickered back as he removed his hand from a growling Sasuke's shoulder.

"The sex wasn't bad; it's the alcohol that's fucking me right now…" Sasuke replied miserably.

"You shouldn't have pounded down those spiced liquors from Suna. I _told_ you they'd give you a headache…" Naruto pondered for just a second before he continued. "…but you never believe me anyway, even when you're drunk."

"How would you know anyway? You want to tell me that you've been drinking these last three and a half years?" Sasuke asked with a bland look on his face. Naruto grinned; no, he hadn't been drinking until just now, he had only known that tidbit because of Sakura.

"I haven't been drinking, but Sakura-chan has." Naruto explained. "Baa-chan wanted to share some with me once, and Sakura-chan immediately told me not to. I'm glad she did 'cause the next morning I had a lot of training." He chuckled after explaining, smiling at the fond memory.

"Sakura, huh…" Sasuke looked thoughtful for a moment, so Naruto let him be. As far as he knew, the Uchiha had nothing in his heart for Sakura or any woman for that matter; it was quite interesting to see him ponder about their teammate for once.

"Do you know where she is?" He asked, much to Naruto's surprise. The blonde wondered what his friend's sudden need to know meant. He resisted the urge to ask _why_.

"Um, Ino took her somewhere; I don't know." He shrugged, hoping Sasuke was unsuspecting enough to let the reason why slip, but the Uchiha didn't deliver, unfortunately.

"I think…I need to use the bathroom." Sasuke spoke, but it was too deliberate to be entirely true. Naruto frowned crookedly and opened his mouth to speak, but Sasuke was already up and gone and a waitress had interrupted his train of thought to flirt with him. He figured his friend would be back soon anyway, and that it would be smart to start ordering things that Sakura might like, anyway; it would be a waste of time for her to get there hungry and not have anything to eat.

-X-

"Ino, your makeup is fine; Sai is a man; they don't care about that stuff it makes no diff—

"He's an _artist_, yes it does! _Kami_ Sakura I can't believe you made me laugh so hard that my eyeliner ran! I really thought you were joking!" Ino wiped under her eyes with a damp paper towel as Sakura blushed leaning against the tiled, blue wall next to her. Sakura had told her friend of her night too; it wasn't like Ino was stupid. She had noticed the subconscious saunter in Sakura's strut, the extra pop of the hip and the straighter shoulders. The blonde had sautéed her for the details of _who what where when and how _as soon as she was done telling Sakura of her adventures in bed the night before.

Sakura eyed Ino's ice colored dress. It was perfectly fitted to her figure and the bow that tied around her neck holding the dress up had just the right touch to bring the garment together. Everything flattered Ino perfectly, as expected, and it was then that Sakura realized just how _grateful_ she was that her friend had _forced_ outfits onto her and into her seals. If it weren't for Ino, Sakura would have come to the celebration in a lab coat with a cup of coffee, overgrown and unkempt.

"Arigato, Ino." She murmured as Ino finally pulled her makeup together. The blonde's ice-blue eyes flicked to her friend, the warmth in them contrasting so greatly with their color. Ino grinned, knowing exactly what Sakura meant.

"No problem, forehead, now let's get back. I bet you my salmon is ready!" Ino tossed the now crumpled paper towel into the nearby trash bin and grabbed Sakura's hand, peeling her off of the wall and dragging her down the hallway, out of the bathroom. At the mention of salmon, Sakura's stomach growled. Just how long would it be before she _actually_ ate?

"So now that you did a total one-eighty, what do you think Sa— Ino pretended to choke on spit as she caught sight of the tall, dark and handsome Uchiha casually leaning against the wall with his arms crossed just under his chest with one heel up against the dark molding on the bottom of the wall.

"Ino?" Sakura was still looking at her friend; not noticing Sasuke until he ceased cloaking his chakra. Her head snapped towards him the instant he revealed himself. She realized that Ino hadn't _choked_; she had successfully stopped herself from saying his name and blurting out hints to Sakura's temporary secret.

"Sorry Sakura I inhaled a little too quickly there." Ino coughed once more and tipped her head towards Sasuke.

"Got your head off the table?" She joked. Sasuke shrugged, seeming bored. Ino knew better; if he had mustered the motivation to somehow sever his face from the tablecloth he was serious about having a conversation with Sakura.

"Sakura." Sasuke shifted his stygian gaze as Sakura's name bled off of his tongue like a fresh wound. Ino almost _felt _Sakura stiffen. Ill at ease, she didn't know how to make a clean escape, looking back and forth between the two like a child caught in the middle of an argument between her parents.

"Hai?" Sakura answered. She did her best to sound casual, and for the most part she succeeded aside from the infinitesimal bit of tightness in her tone. She steeled herself; today, there would be no "Sasuke-kun". There would be no honorific tacked onto his name. Of course, he was still her friend, but she couldn't help but be upset with herself for wasting years of time and overlooking Naruto because of him. It was wrong to be angry with Sasuke, but she was if only a small amount.

"Oh! My food came! I'll see you at the table, Sakura; and hurry up will you?" She bossed and skipped away, rightfully abandoning her.

"I need to talk to you." He started curtly; right down to business as usual.

"Sure. You need to rehydrate, by the way." She realized that she really felt nothing. She was worried when she saw him that those stupid feelings of infatuation would arise again; would stir within her chest again, but they didn't. There was no spark. There were no tickling heart palpitations; nothing to suggest anything remotely similar to the euphoric way she felt around Naruto. Some small part of her was proud; the other was relieved that there was nothing lingering there that would hold her back from having a complete relationship with her favorite blonde idiot. Sasuke raised an onyx brow, unsure of what to think of her response. She tipped her head to the side; what was he waiting for? She was curious about what he had to say; it was entirely unlike him to _suggest_ conversation, so if he did, it must be important.

"I was planning on going away for some time to experience the world the way I should have; without any hate." He started, and she listened. It was a good idea, to be honest. He had wasted away his life; he might as well take time to absorb the simple things in life and admire the beauty of the places that hadn't been marred by the war. He paused for just a second and she felt scrutinized under his obsidian orbs; they were endlessly dark and observant. She had remembered his eyes being more of a darkened grey in their youth. Naruto had told her of how Sasuke had Itachi-san's eyes transplated into his sockets before the war. Were his brother's eyes truly so midnight? They reminded her of the inky feathers of a crow.

"I wanted to know…if you'd wait for me. If there is anyone ideal to have children with, it's you." He explained. Her world stopped turning, but not because she was ecstatic. Frankly, she was _offended_. Would he really demote her in such a manner? She shot him a poisonous glare he wasn't prepared for, but didn't let perturb him. She had to give him credit for remaining stoic under her simmering rage.

"Are you insinuating that even _if_ I still loved you as much as I did… that I would just _let _you shit all over me like that?" She couldn't help but let the curses slip. His eyes darted across her face. She was so angry, she laughed. She laughed to _avoid_ punching him through the wall, over the dance floor and out onto the grass outside, if only to spare the owners of the building a headache. "You're funny, _Sasuke_. I didn't think you had that kind of sense of humor." She spat his name out like a putrid toxin.

"I wasn—

"_Don't_. Finish that sentence." She warned darkly, but quickly composed herself despite the itch on her fist. "I am your friend, Sasuke, and I'm happy you returned to us, I am. But I'm not your whore, or your doormat, or your _mare_. This is the last time I'm going to say this, so listen and don't miss a word: give me the respect I deserve, or I _will_ break a mountain with your face." She waited for him to respond. A small part of her was afraid; the part that was astonished that something like this could _ever_ come out of her mouth towards _him_ of all people; her "darling" Sasuke-kun. It quickly made her sick to think of how foolish she had been and she quashed the fear. She needed to make it known that he could not use her; _ever_.

"I see." He replied, and then he smirked, almost as if proud of her. "Take care of that baka while I'm gone, then." He finished smugly, like a thief at his boon.

A blush rose up from her toes all the way to her cheeks as the room spun just the slightest bit. _How on earth did he know_? _How the hell could he be so casual_!? He really didn't care. He had truly never seen her the way she saw him all of these years. He was collected simply because her feelings for him had never been reciprocated. When her mind stopped whirling, she noticed an iota of light behind his eyes; something playful or joking she had only seen in them once or twice before. He had _played_ her.

"You tricked me!" She snapped a finger at him, open-mouthed and gaping, still in shock. His smirk grew and he shoved his hands into his pockets as her astonishment quickly turned into corked rage.

"I had to make sure there was nothing holding you back." _Because I care about him_. It was left unsaid between them, but she understood. She had a knack for understanding him; not the kind of talent she had for understanding Naruto, but Sasuke was every bit as logical as she was and they frequently met in the middle because of their shared intellect. Her anger fizzled out and she nodded, smirking back at him as she crossed her arms.

"You acted so well you almost won a free ticket to view the grass outside." She informed. He shrugged, still smirking despite his currently pitiful health; she had no doubt that he was sporting a fine headache at this point.

"It's something I get from my brother." He replied, _almost_ softly.

She smiled and realized she was more fulfilled in being friends with him. He had never been a _comrade_ to her. She had always been the annoying ball and chain to him, holding him back from power. She had only recently proved herself to both him and Naruto during the war and he had only just opened up to her _now_—mere seconds ago— because there was no chance that she'd take it the wrong way. He wasn't special to her anymore and he was contented with such mediocrity, as was she. Both their heads snapped to the side as they heard Karin yelling across the hall at Suigetsu, embarrassed seconds later that she had disrupted the peaceful atmosphere. As if just remembering something, Sasuke quickly turned back to her.

"I have something to do." He stated to excuse himself, but she pinned him down with a glare.

"You better grovel if you're going to apologize; you nearly killed her. If she wasn't Uzumaki, she wouldn't have survived." Sakura reminded authoritatively; after all, she had been the one to heal Karin after Sasuke had betrayed her trust in him. Her teammate somberly nodded in response. He didn't look guilty but she knew he was. It was enough for her to nod back; a silent permission for him to go. Once he was gone she grinned and spotted a bright blonde head of hair at a table in the center of the dining hall. She sauntered over, surprised to see Naruto sitting in front of ten different dishes, chatting amiably with Gaara. Naruto sensed her and grinned when she was in his line of sight.

"Sakura-chan!" He greeted and then blushed. "Ah, I didn't know what you'd like, but I knew you were hungry so…"

Her smile stopped his nervous rambling and he grinned back as she slid into the seat next to him and eyed the lemon sashimi plate to her immediate right.

"Lemon sashimi is perfect, Naruto. Arigato." She replied and then smiled at Gaara.

"Good afternoon, kazekage-sama." She greeted, and Naruto began to fill her in on what the two men had been talking about. She broke her chopsticks apart, interrupted him only to say the traditional blessing and continued listening to their conversation; not surprisingly, it was about the future they envisioned as world leaders. It wasn't long before Gaara had to excuse himself to join the five kage table in a separate, private room. He politely bid them farewell, much to Naruto's chagrin and left. Naruto _finally_ turned to his surprisingly abandoned ramen and broke apart his sticks.

"Itadakimasu." He grinned at Sakura as she slipped her hand onto his knee and rubbed the top of his thigh.

"You're going to be really busy in a few years, aren't you?" She asked, and then slid a delectable slice of smoked salmon into her mouth. Naruto paused halfway in lifting his noddles.

"Yeah, I guess being hokage _is_ being busy, huh?" He replied and slurped down his first wave of noodles. Sakura nodded and for a while they simply sat and ate in silence.

"Sakura-chan?"

Sakura turned her head to look at him.

"Mn?"

He grinned at her.

"You'll be there to help me, na?" He asked, a little shy. She grinned at him and then tipped her head up to peck his jaw.

"Duh." She replied. He chuckled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"You know I'm going to marry you…ne?" He grinned, a promising look in his eyes as she blushed. It was early to think that way, but she knew as well as he did that they were right for each other. Marriage— and even children, as she had thought about earlier— were an inevitability. She warmly smiled back at him, and his cheeks pinked.

"Is that a promise?" She asked. His bright eyes were confident and solid as he bent over and kissed her temple, sliding his hand onto hers and intertwining their fingers together.

"I _never_ go back on my promises; that's my nindo."

Sakura grinned as she leaned towards him and tightened her grip on his hand.

"I know… that's why I asked." She murmured.

-X-

AWWWWWWWWWW

I'm such a traitor; I totally abandoned SS Sasusaku for SS NaruSaku lmfao.

Either way they're _so_ fucking cute.

Hope you guys enjoyed this! Remember to thank SEELE01! If it weren't for his motivation; this chapter wouldn't have been edited as quickly because I'm a mean author and I hate editing :p

See ya later, Space Cowboy!

Disclaimer: Naruto ®™ is the property of Masashi Kishimoto and co. This work or literature is purely fanmade and 01Trycia-chan01 makes no profit from posting this.


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